Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Westside/Eastside

As a follow up to my post on LA's city limits the other day, there doesn't seem to be any consensus (in my circle) on what constitutes the "westside of LA" and the "eastside of LA." Why does this matter? Who cares? Well, as in other cities in the U.S., where you live supposedly says something about you. NYC is a good example of this. If you live in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, people will make certain assumptions about you that they wouldn't make if you lived in, say, the Upper West Side, Lower East Side, Fort Greene. Sad, but true.

In LA, the cultural divide isn't so much neighborhood by neighborhood, but rather westside by eastside. Generally speaking, the westside is wealthier, cleaner, more congested, more homogenous. The eastside is more diverse (ethnically and economically), affordable, bohemian, run-down. My experience is that the westside is more like what people imagine as LA-- tanned, fit people, movie industry folks (both established and struggling), lots of boob jobs and ultra luxury cars, etc. So where does the eastside end and the westside begin? I've gotten the following answers from the roughly 10 people I've asked: The westside is anything west of (1) the 405, (2) La Cienega, (3) La Brea, (4) Western and (5) Normandie. I don't know of any correct answer to this, but I would go with #3.